Rajaram Chavan has spent fourteen years in CSR and social development. MSW, PGD-CSR. The first thing he wanted off the table: CSR is not philanthropy. Not a rebranded donation. Not goodwill with a budget line. Strategic work, built on systems, answerable to outcomes. That was his starting position and he didn’t move from it.
SBI Foundation, 2015, Section 8 company under the Companies Act 2013, the CSR vehicle for State Bank of India. Health, education, women’s empowerment, rural development, environment. It majorly covers five areas with active, funded, operational programmes sitting inside them right now.
Gram Seva works through Gram Panchayats, NGO partnerships, Rural development is treated as one interconnected problem instead of a checklist of unrelated fixes. Sanjeevani is about catching people before they get sick preventive and primary care, upstream of the crisis. Matruchhaya is maternal and child welfare. The geography the foundation has chosen is pointed: 112 aspirational districts, NITI Aayog‘s own list of India’s most underserved regions. And then Sonagachi, Kolkata, a programme operating in a social environment most institutions write off as too complicated. Dignity isn’t a background value there. It’s a design specification and if you too want to build a career as a Social Work Professional, enrol into Parul University’s Bachelors of Social Work Programme!
Rashi Verma’s experience on Mumbai Tour
Legal framework: Section 135, Schedule VII, Companies Act 2013. Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth or Rs 5 crore net profit, cross any of those lines and CSR spend becomes mandatory. It was the people working inside the framework. What the sector actually needs, in his telling, is professionals who can hold empathy and accountability in the same hand without dropping either. Ethical leadership isn’t language for a values statement, it’s what prevents the work from becoming murky and the trust from walking out quietly through the back.
He finished with one line. “Be a good human being first. What you think is what you become.”
Make-A-Wish-India: 97,200 Wishes Granted & Still Counting
Make-A-Wish from India, twenty-five years of it. The organisation runs across 53 countries. India specifically: 8 chapters, partnerships with 120+ hospitals, 100+ volunteers. The number of wishes granted in India, 97,200, and still progressing. Tata Memorial Hospital alone accounts for 350 a month. Children aged 3 to 18, each with a life-threatening illness.
The Wishmaker Card is how it starts. Forty to forty-five minutes. Not intake. Not assessment. A conversation long enough and unhurried enough that the child eventually stops saying what they think the adult wants to hear and says the actual thing. Wishes land in four directions, something to own, something to be for a day, someone to meet, somewhere to go.
Shilp Burman’s review on MSW tour
Eight departments underneath it all: governing committee, programme management, field volunteers, fundraising, finance and administration, communications, partnerships, advocacy. Ms Sophia Falcao and Ms Bhakti, Programme Head and Operations Head, kept returning to the same tension: the feeling driving the work is genuine, but feeling doesn’t fulfil 350 wishes a month at one hospital. The infrastructure exists so the compassion has somewhere reliable to land.
Shilpi Burman’s account picked up what sits at the edges, Saathi, working with runaway street girls. Counselling centres at railway stations for girls who’ve been left behind. Separate programmes for children with terminal illness. The organisation is carrying more than the wish count suggests. It just doesn’t lead with all of it.
Tilak Hospital: Not-for-Loss Social Enterprise
Dr Madhav Sathe is an anaesthesiologist at Bombay Hospital and Breach Candy Hospital who leads the Bombay Mother and Child Welfare Society at Tilak Hospital. His philosophy redefines the economics of social work: not-for-profit must become not-for-profit. Social enterprises must earn enough to sustain themselves without exploitation. This model ensures long-term impact rather than dependence on donor cycles.
Sohati Parmar’s review on Day 2, Mumbai Tour
His initiatives span urban and rural settings. The e-learning initiative (2017) reached 406 schools through the PPP (Participative Philanthropy Person) model, later evolving into Participative Philanthropy Person. Rural development in Rajgurunagar covers 91 villages across Pune district. Over 280 schools transitioned to e-learning. Rural hospitals were established. Vocational training empowered local communities. A nutritious fruit breakfast scheme feeds children for just Rs 4 per day, covering 406 villages. He also introduced solar power for schools lacking electricity.
His advice to students: be a practical learning person, stay lively from inside to create impactful change, see the small things because they often hold the biggest lessons, and the courage of conviction is what allows us to go against the theory. And if you too wish to bring an impact, level up your career with MSW of Parul University!
“To criticise is easy. But to really know the system, navigate it, and still complete your work, that is the true challenge.”
What Three Organisations Reveal About Social Work at Scale
- Structure enables compassion. SBI CSR operates across 112 districts because it has programme management, monitoring, and evaluation systems. Make-A-Wish grants 97,200 wishes because it has 8 operational departments. Tilak Hospital reaches 406 schools because it built a replicable PPP model. Passion alone stays local
- Sustainability requires financial discipline. Dr Sathe’s not-for-loss model, SBI’s alignment with Companies Act mandates, and Make-A-Wish’s fundraising department all demonstrate that social work at scale requires financial thinking alongside empathy
- CSR is a career path for social work graduates. Mr Chavan (MSW, PGD-CSR, 14+ years) showed students that social work skills: project planning, community engagement, impact assessment, and stakeholder management are directly applicable in corporate CSR departments
Read ahead the raw and real experiences of students, who shared it on LinkedIn.
Amaya Raj on how Teach For India inspired her!
Ishan Kashiv on meeting Shaheen Mistri, Mumbai Tour
Yash Ladva on her experience with Make-A-Wish-India, Mumbai Tour
FAQ
What is SBI Foundation, CSR?
Established 2015 as a Section 8 company under Companies Act 2013. CSR arm of State Bank of India. Operates across health, education, women empowerment, rural development, and environment. Flagship: SBI Gram Seva (rural development), SBI Sanjeevani (preventive healthcare), SBI Matruchhaya (maternal welfare). They are functioning in 112 states.
How many wishes has Make-A-Wish India granted?
97,200 wishes in India over 25 years. 350+ wishes per month at Tata Memorial Hospital. 8 active chapters across India, partnerships with 120+ hospitals, 100+ volunteers. Children aged 3 to 18 with life-threatening illnesses. Four categories: wish to have, wish to be, wish to meet, wish to go.
